AROUND THE HORN
Royals:
The Royals fired longtime executive Dayton Moore on Wednesday, ending the roller-coaster tenure of an influential general manager and president who took the club from perennial 100-game loser to two World Series and the 2015 championship before its quick return to mediocrity. Royals owner John Sherman, who retained Moore after acquiring the club from David Glass in 2019, announced the move during a news conference at which Moore spoke briefly before quietly slipping out of the room. “I think the objective is clear: It’s to compete again for championships, and we have to make sure we’re progressing toward that goal,” said Sherman, whose club was 30 games below .500 heading into its game against the Twins. “In 2022 we regressed.” Sherman tried a mild shakeup to the front office last offseason, elevating Moore from GM to president of baseball operations while giving J.J. Picollo the GM title. But the awkward splitting of jobs never worked out, and Sherman decided to bring them back together with Picollo now handling all aspects of baseball operations. Picollo was the first person that Moore hired when he took over the Royals in 2006. Sherman said he expects other changes to be discussed down the stretch and into the offseason, including whether to keep manager Mike Matheny and his coaching staff. But it will be up to Picollo to make those decisions. Moore was hired in 2006 and tasked with rebuilding an organization that hadn’t reached the playoffs in more than two decades. He quickly followed the blueprint that he learned from longtime Braves executive John Schuerholz, investing in
Latin America and the minor league system before spending on proven major league talent. It took most of another decade for the plan to work, but the Royals began to see progress with a winning record in 2013, when a wave of young players began to reach the majors. And the breakthrough came the following year, when a team built around Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas won the first of two consecutive American League pennants. The Royals lost their first trip to the World Series to the Giants in a dramatic seven-game series, but they finished the job the following year, beating the Mets in five for their first championship since 1985.
Nationals, Braves: Joey Meneses hit a go-ahead, two-run HR off Jesse Chavez in the seventh, and the Nationals stopped the Braves’ five-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory. Ronald Acuña Jr. drove in an early run and scored another for the playoff-bound Braves, who clinched their fifth straight postseason appearance a night earlier. The defending World Series champions remained one game behind the NL East-leading Mets, who lost to the Brewers 6-0 in Milwaukee. The Braves had won 10 straight home games, outscoring opponents 47-16. They’re 52-26 at Truist Park, with only one remaining three-game series against the Mets from Sept. 30-Oct. 2. The Braves are a big league-best 71-29 since May 31. Meneses put the Nationals up 3-2 with his 10th HR, a 420-foot drive to left for the 30-yearold rookie. He leads the lastplace Nationals with 57 hits, 10 HRs and 25 RBIs since his major league debut on Aug. 2. Andrés Machado (2-0) pitched a scoreless sixth to earn the victory.